PLoP boot manager in text mode?

[ezee]

is there any way to run plop without the starfield and with just a plain text menu instead of the green digital looking one?

I mean, skip it all together and just have it use a plain old text menu at the console:

1.  boot to usb
2.  bot to hdd

etc.
etc.

thanks!

[Elmar]

hi,

is there any way to run plop without the starfield and with just a plain text menu

sure, because i love text mode but i enhanced it. press ctrl-esc
you can turn off the special font in the setup.

...instead of the green digital looking one?
I mean, skip it all together and just have it use a plain old text menu at the console:

1.  boot to usb
2.  bot to hdd

etc.
etc.

no, thats not possible. you will always have a menu. but maybe its an idea to add this option for 5.1.x

regards
elmar

[ezee]

"you can turn off the special font in the setup."

how to access the setup?

[Elmar]

in the main menu press enter at "setup" and then at "bootmanager". then you get a lot of option to configure the boot manager. if you use the binary (plpbt.bin) then you have to configure the boot manager with plpcfgbt.

elmar

[ezee]

i'm using the boot cd, i think it won't let me save my changes.

[Elmar]

you have to configure plpbt.bin and create your own iso file. you can do this with plpbt-createiso
http://www.plop.at/en/bootmanagerdl.html

[ezee]

doing that now...will check back.

would you consider letting me use the source code to make one that uses a basic text menu, I'd give you the finished code when I was done....

[Elmar]

would you consider letting me use the source code to make one that uses a basic text menu, I'd give you the finished code when I was done....

no, its still closed source

[ezee]

ah....i think now I can get it to do what I want using the configuration tool.  boot to usb as default in hidden mode with a countdown of 1.  I just want it to always boot into USB directly without any bells and whistles.

[Elmar]

then, the hidden mode is better as you ever expected

[ezee]

yeah that worked great.

elmar do you permit the use of this bootloader on linux distros if we credit you as the creator?

[Elmar]

elmar do you permit the use of this bootloader on linux distros if we credit you as the creator?

yes sure, its part of the licence to use the boot manager for your needs.
http://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager.html#licence

i am proud and happy when you use it

best regards
elmar

[ezee]

any way to modify with the config so there are two options:  boot to cd or boot to usb?  or do you have to leave the other options in there too....

[Elmar]

you can configure what you want. boot floppy, cdrom, usb, harddisk
http://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager.html#plpcfgbt

[ezee]

yes, i got it to do USB only, works great

...but if I want it to use the menu (not hidden mode) and only have two options displayed (usb or cdrom) am i able to configure that?

also what is the use of the profile
prf     profile         set 'prf' value between 1 and 16
prfname set profilename 16 chars, 'prf' must be set

[Elmar]

...but if I want it to use the menu (not hidden mode) and only have two options displayed (usb or cdrom) am i able to configure that?

thats not possible. when you use another boot manager to start plpbt.bin then you need 2 configured plpbt.bin. or the new test versions that support the linux kernel command line. but currently i implemented only a few options. i can add more options if its required.

also what is the use of the profile
prf     profile         set 'prf' value between 1 and 16
prfname set profilename 16 chars, 'prf' must be set

thats for booting the harddisk

[ezee]

"or the new test versions that support the linux kernel command line"

is that:

plpbt-5.0.11-test3.zip    2010-06-20    PLoP Boot Manager 5.0.11-test3

?

[Elmar]

yes, read http://forum.plop.at/index.php/topic,233.0.html or http://www.plop.at/en/bootmngrusblog.html for more infos

[ezee]

hey elmar, you mentioned in an earlier reply that getting plop to work in a text only mode was not possible

But what is the "text" mode value for video mode?  won't that do it?


vm      video mode      text, 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024

[Elmar]

hi,

hey elmar, you mentioned in an earlier reply that getting plop to work in a text only mode was not possible

i didn't say text mode is not possible

i wrote

is there any way to run plop without the starfield and with just a plain text menu

sure, because i love text mode but i enhanced it. press ctrl-esc
you can turn off the special font in the setup.

but what you want is not possible

...instead of the green digital looking one?
I mean, skip it all together and just have it use a plain old text menu at the console:

1.  boot to usb
2.  bot to hdd

etc.
etc.

regards
elmar

[ezee]

text mode doesn't seem to do anything for me....it still boots into the menu with the green text in the blue square background in the upper left corner.  below is my config.

how do I make it use just text mode with no colored fonts or squares in the background?


Video mode     : text mode
Start mode     : menu
Countdown      : off
Countdown value: 15 seconds
Default boot   : off
Profile        : 1
Starfield      : off
Zoom animation : on
Font           : bios
Force USB 1.1  : off
Use USB MassDev: 1
Use INT19h     : off
Startup hotkey : no

[ezee]

here is the plpbt.bin I am using to create the iso (so you can check it to ensure I'm not making a mistake in the config)

[Elmar]

i think you don't understand me and you don't understand the term "text mode".

when you set the boot manager to text mode, then the graphic card is used in a standard text mode with 80x50 chars with a few modifications. see later! the difference to the graphic mode is that the graphic card is used in graphic mode with 640x480x256 up to 1280x1024x256 pixels!

my plan was, that the boot manager text mode look similar to the graphic mode but the graphic card is in text mode. obviously i did a good job, because many people doesn't figure out that the text mode of the boot manager is NO graphic mode. does the people not see the difference between the T80x50 and the G640x480 mode? i think, the modes are still looking very different, but thats the limitation of text mode.

what modifications have i done that the text mode looks like a graphic mode? i programmed a window control system that manages the windows in text mode in the same way as in the graphic mode (positions, content, ...). i changed the color palette of the few text mode colors that they are looking similar to the graphic mode colors. i changed the rom font that i get cool borders in the text mode and an alternative font.

i don't know what you understand with text mode, but my definition of text mode is "setup the graphic card to the text mode".

Code Select Expand


; init text mode code
;-----------------------------------
     
     ; set text mode 80x25
     mov ax,3
     int 10h

     ; load rom font 8x8 and switch to text mode 80x50
     mov ax,1112h
     xor bx,bx
     int 10h



you want only a list of the options without the windows and background. but thats not a definition of text mode. in your understanding would run every dos program in graphic mode that has windows or using colors. and thats wrong.

text mode doesn't seem to do anything for me....it still boots into the menu with the green text in the blue square background in the upper left corner.  below is my config.

how do I make it use just text mode with no colored fonts or squares in the background?

i say the same again as in a posting before. no this is not possible.
you will always have the menu and colored font and so on in the text mode and in the graphic mode. the only mode without menu is the hidden mode.

a menu and a colored font does not mean that its not text mode. i think you don't know what magic things are possible in text mode!

elmar

[ezee]

YES, now I understand completely.  text mode = text mode resolution, not console text mode.

thanks elmar.

how do we make a feature request?

[Elmar]

the boot option list that you want is already in my mind, but it will not be available in 5.0.x., maybe in 5.1.x

regards
elmar